Where The Road Ends
by Meg Rider
Summary: The summer is coming to an end and best friends Rapunzel, Odette, Jasmine, Meg and Belle are getting ready to start their first year of college. A spontaneous decision leads the girls on a cross-country road trip to see the farewell concert of their favorite band. Features many, many Disney and non-Disney characters as they take their journey and meet new people.
1. Chapter 1

_Saturday, August 10th _

"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you over," Rapunzel said, as she watched her friends, Jasmine, Meg, Belle and Odette get settled in her living room.

"Personally, I don't care." Meg plopped down on the La-Z-Boy sideways so her legs were dangling over one arm of the chair and her head was resting on the other. "I'm just glad to get out of the house and away from Aurora."

"I don't know why you complain about your sister so much," Odette said from the couch, beside Jasmine. "Aurora is actually really sweet."

Meg rolled her eyes. "You think _every_one is sweet."

"On the contrary, Megara; I find you to be quite bitter."

Meg was just about to give Odette the finger, but Rapunzel's seven-year-old brother, Billy, walked in, so she just stuck her tongue out at her.

"What is it, Billy?" Rapunzel asked. "I'm hanging out with my friends."

Billy nervously glanced around at the girls. "Um... mom wanted me to tell you that she ordered a pizza for you guys."

"Thanks, Billy."

Billy nodded, then quickly turned and hurried out of the living room.

"Do you two ever stop bickering?" Belle asked Meg and Odette as they continued their argument.

Rapunzel glanced at her friends again. Meg and Odette were arguing, Belle was stretched out on the floor reading something on her Kindle and Jasmine was texting. How did this get away from her so quickly?

Rapunzel cleared her throat. "As I was saying..." Her friends looked up at her. "The reason I asked you guys to come over is I have some news."

"Is everything all right?" Belle asked.

"Siren Song is having an impromptu concert at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on the twenty-third," Rapunzel told them.

Siren Song was their favorite band. The girls never missed their shows when they came to town. Everyone in the band was only a couple years older than the girls, but they had amazing talent and had become huge almost over night just a few years ago.

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"So... It's their farewell concert."

Meg quickly repositioned herself so she was sitting up. "You're kidding."

Rapunzel shook her head. "I wish I was."

"So, they're breaking up?" Odette asked. "Why?"

Rapunzel shrugged. "I guess it just got to be too much for them."

"I'm confused," Jasmine said. "Why did you have to call us over here to tell us that?"

Rapunzel pulled her long blonde hair over her shoulder and started playing with it. "Well, I was thinking... maybe... we could, um... go?"

"Go where?" Odette asked.

"The concert, obviously," Meg snapped at her.

"You want to fly across the country just to see a concert?" Belle's tone made it clear she didn't think Rapunzel was serious.

"Actually, I was thinking we could take a road trip out there."

Her friends were quiet for a moment, but Odette was the first to speak up. "That's insane. No way."

"Why not?" Rapunzel hadn't meant for her question to sound like a whine, but that was how it came out.

"Well, I say hell yes," Meg stated. "It'll be so much fun."

Odette glared at her. "The concert is in two weeks; how are we supposed to plan it out and manage to get that time off work with such short notice?"

Meg shrugged. "Who cares? Count me in, Rapunzel."

"Actually, Odette," Belle chimed in. "Time wouldn't really be an issue since we could probably make the trip out there in about five days. The real issue..." she turned to face Rapunzel "...is how we're going to pay for it."

"I have about two grand saved up from working last summer and this summer. If we all pitched in we can totally pull this off."

"What about school?" Belle asked. "School starts up in just over three weeks; we're gonna need all the money we have saved up."

Rapunzel really hadn't thought about that and, honestly, didn't have an answer. Maybe Odette was right; this was an insane idea.

"Oh, come one, you guys," Meg interjected. "Everybody goes into debt with loans from college and starts freshman year off broke. Seeing the farewell concert of our favorite band is a one-time opportunity."

"We're all going," Jasmine said, scrolling through her smartphone.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Odette said.

"I agree with her," Belle stated.

"Too bad." Jasmine held up her phone so they could all see the screen. "I just bought five tickets to the concert."

Belle gaped at her. "Why did you do that?"

"Rapunzel and Meg are right; we should do this. We're not going to have another opportunity like this and it'd be so much fun. You both you know want to go."

"Of course we _want _to go," Odette told her. "But this is about being..." she paused while she searched for the right word.

"Responsible," Belle finished for her.

"Exactly. We're adults now; we can't afford to be spontaneous."

"If you don't go, you have to pay me back for the ticket," Jasmine said.

"How much were they?" Odette asked.

"Two hundred dollars."

"_Two hundred_?" Belle shrieked.

Odette reached into her over-sized purse and pulled out her checkbook and a pen. But before she write anything, Jasmine snatched her pen out of her hand and through it across the room.

"We're all going." Jasmine stated.

Odette and Belle exchanged worried and defeated glances. Finally Belle sighed.

"Fine. We're all going," she said.

Odette tossed her checkbook back in her purse, the crossed her arms over her chest and slumped back. "I guess we don't have a choice."

"No, you don't," Meg told her.

Rapunzel squealed in excitement and jumped up and down. "This is going to be awesome!"


	2. Chapter 2

_Sunday, August 11th_

Belle's father's reaction to the last minute road trip was disappointing. When she asked him for permission, she was hoping he would side with her and tell her she couldn't go. But, he was so distracted by his latest invention that he was barely even listening to her ("Yes, Belle; of course. Can you hand me that wrench over there?").

But now that Belle was planning out the route for the trip, she was starting to get excited. Each of the girls emailed her the places they wanted to stop and visit: Belle wants to stop in Fairmount, Indiana to see James Dean's grave, Rapunzel wants to go to the Four Corners Monument, Jasmine wants to go to New Orleans, Meg wants to go to Vegas and all of the girls wanted to stop in Nashville. With all the stops, it was going to take them approximately seven days to get to Los Angeles; traveling a total of 3,550 miles.

The doorbell rang and Belle went downstairs to answer it. It was the day after the meeting at Rapunzel's house and they all agreed to meet at Belle's that afternoon to discuss the travel plan. When she opened the door she saw Jasmine and Odette.

"Hey, girls," Belle greeted them.

Jasmine and Odette made their way inside. Just as Belle was about to close the door, Rapunzel pulled in. The four girls were already settled into Belle's room when Meg finally showed up. She was late, like usual, and let herself in.

Rapunzel could hardly sit still on the bed. "Did you figure everything out?"

Belle nodded. "It's going to take us about seven days to get there, but we'll be able to see everything we want. Now, if we leave on Saturday, we'll get there the morning of the concert. If we don't do any sight-seeing on the trip back, we can make it home in five days." Belle took her calendar off the wall and pointed at the dates. "With that in mind, if you girls want, we actually have the money and the time to stay in L.A. for a couple days. If we leave on Wednesday, we'll be home on Sunday and that will give us Labor Day to relax before starting school on Tuesday."

"I like that plan, let's do that," Rapunzel said.

Meg agreed. Odette just shrugged.

Belle continued, "Jasmine, if we take your car, we'll have plenty of room for the five of us and all of our luggage."

"That's fine," Jasmine told her.

Belle nodded. "Okay. I figured with your gas mileage, we'll probably have to stop every two to three hours for fuel."

"Do we have to stay in L.A. for a couple days?" Odette asked. "Can't we just leave on Saturday or Sunday and be home earlier? I start my new job the day after Labor Day and I'd like to be refreshed when I start."

"That's a fair point," Belle said. "Does anybody else want to leave right away and get home earlier?"

Meg, Jasmine and Rapunzel shook their heads.

"Sorry, Odette. You're outnumbered."

"Whatever," she grumbled.

The girls spent the next half an hour discussing the total cost for gas, food and hotels and divided it even among the five of them. They then all agreed that Odette should be the one to hold onto the money because she was the most responsible and the best at money management.

"All right," Jasmine said after they had sorted out all of the details. "I'll be leaving my house at nine o'clock Saturday morning to pick everyone up. That gets us in the road by ten o'clock."

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Rapunzel said.

"It's pretty exciting," Jasmine agreed. "But I'm really going to miss Aladdin."

The other girls groaned. "_Please _don't tell me you're going to be talking about him non-stop!" Meg grumbled. "If you are, we're gonna tie you to the roof of the car for the whole trip."

"Oh, come on, Meg; you can't blame her for missing her boyfriend," Odette spat.

"She can miss him all she wants; I just don't want to hear about it."

"All right, girls; calm down," Jasmine said. "I promise I'll keep the Aladdin talk to a minimum. Just stop arguing."

"This is going to be a long trip if you two are bickering the whole time," Belle said. "We're all going to be in a car together for a week and it's going to be trying for all of us as it is; we don't need you two adding to the frustrations."

"She's the one who always starts it," Meg pointed out.

"Meg!" Belle snapped.

Meg rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll do my best."

Everyone looked over at Odette, waiting for her to agree. She sighed. "All right."

Belle nodded. "Thank you."

"Well, I guess we should all head home and get ready to leave on Friday," Rapunzel said, after a few moments of awkward silence.

"I agree," Jasmine said. "We have a lot to get ready for."

Belle walked her friends out and waved to them as they drove away. When she was alone, she went back up to her room and got online. She was happy to see that she had an IM waiting for her.

**TheBeastPrince: **_Good afternoon._

Belle smiled at her screen. She had been talking to TheBeastPrince since the beginning of the summer. They IMed and emailed each other every chance they got and could spend hours talking about everything: books, music, movies, school. He was in his first year of college studying business.

Belle quickly replied to his IM.

**BeautyBookworm: **_Hello. _

**TheBeastPrince: **_How has your afternoon been? I missed talking to you. _

Belle blushed.

**BeautyBookworm:** _It's been wonderful. My friends and I are planning a road trip California to see the farewell concert for Siren Song._

It took him a few moments to respond. But finally she received his IM.

**TheBeastPrince: **_I'm going to that concert, too. Do you want to meet?  
_

Belle stared at her screen for a couple minutes. Meet? She had never considered meeting him in person. She really liked him, but she didn't even know his name. All she had was a single photo of him that he had emailed her a few weeks after they started talking. She had to admit, though; he was hot. She bit her lip. Could she really meet a stranger from the internet? Why not? She'll have her friends with her and it'll be in a public place. After all wasn't this trip about being spontaneous?

Belle took a deep breath and sent him her reply...

**BeautyBookworm:** _Yes._**  
**


End file.
